DiCaprio Circling Tarantino’s Manson Movie

Quentin Tarantino’s 9th film is taking an important step towards production and could reunite the maverick director with some of his favorite leading actors, including Leonardo DiCaprio. The news comes after Tarantino’s very public split with The Weinstein Company, following the Hollywood-shaking revelations surrounding Harvey Weinstein. With the script for his ’70s-set movie complete, the film is now reportedly being passed around major movie studios with the aim for shooting and casting to happen pretty quickly.

Tarantino’s last film was the violent Western The Hateful Eight in 2015. News then broke towards the end of 2016, that he was developing a new movie to be set in the 1970s. This was despite previous references to a horror movie or even an authentic foreign-language martial-arts film. Further details were eventually given earlier this year, when it was reported that the plot would be based on events surrounding the Manson Family murders. This surprised some and caused a little controversy at the time, but Tarantino was still allegedly courting a major A-list cast to play significant real-life characters in the story.

Related: Tarantino Wants to Make a Star Trek Movie

Following the departure of the project from The Weinstein Company, Deadline now reports that the script is officially being offered to all other major film studios, with the only exception being Disney, due to the subject matter and inevitable R-rating. The movie currently lacks an official title, and is apparently being referred to as simply ‘#9’ (a reference to this being Tarantino’s ninth directorial effort). Tarantino is said to be eager to engage the biggest distribution and interest possible, and ensure a deal that will release the picture globally in the style of The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained.

Tarantino doesn’t usually focus on real-life events too closely, and this project is reportedly said to follow that trend. The cult leader Charles Manson is only said to be a part of the plot in the same way that Adolf Hitler was shown in Inglourious Basterds; very much a background character, with only a fleeting appearance. Despite that, there have already been reports that Margot Robbie has been asked to play murder victim Sharon Tate, and Jennifer Lawrence had also been in consideration for the role. With this update however, Tarantino has reportedly written an unnamed role for DiCaprio, and had conversations concerning roles for Brad Pitt and Samuel L. Jackson. It should be remembered that whilst those actors have all worked with the auteur before, no casting commitments involving them or anyone else have yet been formally announced.

With pre-production on the project now underway, the movie is expected to shoot in mid-2018 with a 2019 release in sight, once it’s picked up by a new film studio. The script is said to be comparable to Pulp Fiction – which suggests a possible portmanteau format – with a required budget closer to Django Unchained. It will also have a larger scope than The Hateful Eight and unsurprisingly involve a much larger cast. There’s little to form an opinion on as of yet, but if the film does invoke the style and tone of Pulp Fiction, and have a cast that includes the likes of DiCaprio, then this could well be a formidable addition to Tarantino’s work.